>"I can teach you all you need to weld well in about 8 hours. Then, after 10
years of practice, you should be a good welder."
hehe, thats what ive heard over and over. those training courses are a
great deal. if i wasnt already working on my car all time i would do it!!
:)
-james "headmaster" creasy
----- Original Message -----
From: <Sethracer@aol.com>
To: <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 12:58 PM
Subject: Re: change careers
> after trying to hire a welder (and after getting laid off and living in
this dot bomb economy), i considered learning how to weld. if you are good
the money is good and you can either work for yourself or someone else.
plus welding is really fun and could be automotive related. in fact, i need
some welding done now. -james "strike the arc" creasy
>
> I second James'(oops, I mean james') remark. While building many race cars
over 25 years, I had always adhered to a credo that "I wouldn't get into a
race car that I had welded on". At my advanced age ~50, I was beginning to
build another "Prepared" car. Frank Stagnaro convinced me to not "hire out"
the welding, but to invest in a good welder, learn how to use it, and go
from there, build my own roll cage, etc. I did that, but not in that order.
I took a welding class at the San Jose Metropolitan Regional Occupational
Training center, on Hillsdale Ave in San Jose, (right off Capitol
Expressway.) The class was two nights a week, with plenty of their equipment
and their electricity/gas. It was just over $100 for the semester, and you
had to bring your own helmet and gloves. (Which I was going to buy anyway!)
After a few weeks of proving that I could, too, weld, I bought a new TIG
welder and used both their equipment and mine to finish up most of the welds
on the new car. I can!
> 't believe how useful a welder is. Remember the line: "When all you have
is a hammer, everything looks like a nail?" I have found all sorts of extra
uses for it, beyond just automotive. Beyond the tool hobbiest, the school
offers a welder certification program which takes you through all the needed
skills. A friend of mine, Richard Finch, is an author of several books on
welding. He once told me: "I can teach you all you need to weld well in
about 8 hours. Then, after 10 years of practice, you should be a good
welder." It is all a matter of practice. - Seth Emerson
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